Redistricting battle pits Old vs. New Texas

AUSTIN - This year more than ever, the once-a-decade fight over new legislative and congressional districts emphasizes the growing clash between the Old Texas and the New Texas, with the state's older, whiter establishment trying to stave off a push by newer forces - buoyed by dramatic minority population growth - eager for a bigger slice of the political pie.

For the GOP, it could be the last best chance for an Anglo-dominated party to preserve its political power. For minority groups, it is a chance to elect more Latino candidates.

As the redistricting showdown heads to court in San Antonio Tuesday, all of the lawyers representing minority groups are Hispanic. Most of the lawyers representing the state are Anglo.

One difference from previous redistricing fights: Two of the three federal judges who will hear this year's lawsuit are Hispanic - U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez and U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia. None of the federal judges in previous statewide redistricting cases in Texas have been Hispanic.

It is a reflection of the changing face of Texas. The once majority-Anglo state has become one in which minorities collectively now are the majority. Soon, Hispanics will surpass Anglos as the largest population group.

Minorities, who accounted for 89 percent of the population growth over the past 10 years, helped Texas get four new congressional districts. Minority groups, however, contend the Republican-controlled Legislature came up with a congressional district map that will not net them a single seat.

Latino opportunities

The new map carving Texas into 150 state House seats will result in a decline in Latino-opportunity districts, they say.

"I am not surprised at what I think essentially is a power grab by a demographic that is declining in the state of Texas at the expense of the growing minority community," said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which has raised about $2 million to help challenge the redistricting map.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and his staff, preparing to defend the redistricting maps, reject any notion of discrimination or unfairness.

They point out that while Hispanics now are 37.6 percent of the state's population, they make up 24 percent of voting age Texans and only 20 percent when non-U.S. citizens are removed from the voting age population.

The 2010 Texas House election produced two African-American Republican lawmakers and five Hispanic Republican House members, while two GOP Hispanics were elected to Congress that year.

"Given the historic nature of the November 2010 elections, any analysis of old versus new Texas must keep in mind that a given population of people is not monolithic," Abbott spokesman Jerry Strickland said. "In terms of determining the outcome of elections, the plaintiffs' challenge presupposes that all Hispanics and African-Americans would prefer to be represented by Democrats rather than Republicans. The reality is more complicated."

"We focus on ensuring that Latino voters have the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice, regardless of race or political party," she said. "Our challenge to the current House and congressional redistricting plans is based on the fact that the plans diminish Latino voting strength across the state, fail to draw the correct number of districts in which Latinos have the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice, and purposefully discriminate against Latinos because of race."

'Sleight of hand'

Lawyers for the minority organizations contend that Republican lawmakers yanked high-turnout Latino voting precincts from some districts to swap with low-turnout Latino neighborhoods while also cutting the African-American populations.

"It's like a sleight of hand. If you only look superficially at the numbers, it looks like the district is unchanged," said veteran voting rights attorney José Garza, of San Antonio, who represents the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. "That's so calculated it can't be anything else but intentional discrimination."

Minority lawmakers challenging the map were asked for evidence of intentional discrimination during pre-trial depositions, and could not provide any, the attorney general's Strickland countered.

Canseco's district

Attorneys for the state also point out that the Voting Rights Act is not designed to ensure proportionality in minority representation. The law states: "Nothing in this section establishes the right to have members of a protected class elect in numbers equal to their proportion of the population."

Beaten badly in the legislative arena where minorities make up only 20 percent of the 181-member Texas House, minority groups "have a new set of referees" in a courtroom, Martinez Fischer said. "Now, we argue as equals."

Having Hispanic judges overseeing a Texas redistricting case for the first time does not tip the scale any particular way because "The law is what the law is and the facts are what the facts are," said Garza, the MALC attorney.